Recruitment essentially refers to the process of attract persons in adequate number who possesses the right expertise and at the right times to apply for open vacancies in the organization (Bach 2005). Recruitment is an extremely critical process of human resource management. In this case recruitment incorporates a string of process, the most notable of them being the selection process (Bach 2005). It is a vital tool that has come to be used by many business entities and corporations. In fact recruitment can be looked on as a type of a business competition. As a business tool it enables organizations come closer in achieving their organization's goals (Bach 2005). The reason why management accords the recruitment process the seriousness that to some people is exaggerated is because any business strategy requires the talents to implement that tie to business, failure to which the business will falter (Bach 2005).

In this paper, I would be exploring the challenges and choices that Human Resources managers make while dealing with problems regarding recruitment and selection of workers which represent a section of their many duties and responsibilities.

Explanation of managing recruitment and selection

The fact that recruitment and selection are serious processes to a business entity calls for caution when the upper management of HR wades through this field. Managing the recruitment and selection of employees require breaking the two processes into several steps. For instance, the recruitment process can be broken down into five processes namely; screening, selection, orientation, assigning or placement and finally, performance management, in that order (Bach 2005. Just like I have mentioned previously selection is more or less part of the recruitment process, this therefore means that a reference of recruitment ought to be construed as an indirect reference to selection process also (Bach 2005).

These processes in a significant way depend on the labor market that an organization exists.

Methods of managing recruitment and selection

Normally, recruitment comprise of a two way process whereby an organization look for prospective employees while prospective employees look for an organization that requires their expertise and services (Bach 2005). Recruitment is highly dependent on timing (Bach 2005). For success to be guaranteed in the recruitment process a medium of communication has to be present.

Another important ingredient of the recruitment process that determines whether it will be a success or not is recruitment planning (Elearn Limited & Pergamon Flexible Learning 2005). This recruitment planning has to take cognizance of a number of factors. First the recruitment planning requires considering the number of employees that are needed for a certain job (Elearn Limited & Pergamon Flexible Learning 2005). Second, it needs to consider the particular time when they will be needed. In this regard a time frame ought to be considered whereby the employment application and the CV are submitted together with when the successful employee is hired. The average time for the employee to commence working is forty three days, while the recruitment pipeline comprise of CV, invitation for an interview, interview itself, offer, and finally, acceptance (Elearn Limited & Pergamon Flexible Learning 2005).

Still under recruitment, we have internal recruitment which basically refers to a situation when an organization at first considers its current workforce especially in promotion (Elearn Limited & Pergamon Flexible Learning 2005). External recruitment on the other hand involves recruiting from outside the labor market. Mostly, organization will resort to this kind of recruitment when the current workforce lacks the expertise or experience that is needed in an available vacancy.

External recruitment process ordinarily consists of a number of sources namely; employment agencies, universal relations, recruitment advertising, and executive search firms (Elearn Limited & Pergamon Flexible Learning 2005). In majority of the cases organization approach universities or other institutions of higher learning to hunt for the brains that fits their requirement, this is one of the reasons why universities and colleges have often found favor with organizations, a demonstration of this symbiotic relationship between organization and universities and colleges can be found in the grants, gifts, consulting programmes with faculty, and summer employment have become buzz word of late in the corporate world.

Organizations have also increasingly found it fit to have agreement with employment agencies. All what an organization need to do in this kind of an agreement is to provide the agency with the required qualifications for each and every available position. These agency fees mostly vary from 10% to 20% of the starting salary of the position in question (Elearn Limited & Pergamon Flexible Learning 2005).

Issues that occur during recruitment and selection

There are a number of issues that arises in course of recruitment and selection. One such issue has to do with the poor setting that at times define the interviewing exercise (Arthur 2001). This involves conducting interviews in locations that do not arguer well with the interview experience itself. The lack of appropriate follow-up of question is something that has also been identified as possible bottleneck to the smooth and fruitful interviewing exercise (Arthur 2001). This is particularly challenging because it has the potential of filtering the best candidates while retaining those that are pathetically poor as far as the required competence is concerned. It is extremely important to check with former employer before recruiting or selecting an employee, failure of which can have devastating effect on the organization at some future time (Arthur 2001). This is especially true of sensitive position that might require entrusting the employees with expensive organization's resources.

Another issue with the recruitment and selection of employee that can be potentially prejudicial to the organization is the vagueness in the selection criteria (Arthur 2001). The problem with this mostly stems from the way it can be used in a way that open the door for unethical practices like nepotism, racism, or tribalism (Arthur 2001). Untrained interviewers have also been found to be another possible frontier of mediocrity to the workplace (Arthur 2001). Another problem that might arise in course of the recruitment and selection process has to do with the ambiguous job requirements. This is another thing that has the potential of giving the organization an employee who is not qualified or conversant with what he or she is expected in his or her new job posting (Arthur 2001).

It also makes the complicates the recruitment and selection by attracting all sort of professional who deem themselves as fitting in the job vacancy that is being filled. Insufficient outreach is another problem that can be raised in course of the recruitment and selection process (Arthur 2001). The problem in this arises from the way it fails to reach a high number of prospective employees thereby limiting the area from which the organization's HR can access prospective employees. This problem is widespread in that organization always face problems indentifying the most effective mean of communication that would enable them address the disconnect that exist between the prospective employees and the recruiting entity and its agent.

Selection process at time is usually rushed thereby making it possible for a situation where the least qualified persons to land the job. This problem mostly arises when organization are in a hurry to fill positions that require to be filled within no time. The lack of proper preparation in most of the cases necessitates the filing of the position by a person who could not have landed the job in ordinary circumstances.

Another issue that might haunt an organization after a selection process is the failure to offer the newly employed employees an appropriate and substantive orientation (Bach 2005). In this regard an employee who has not been orientated substantially resort to doing thing the way he or she knows best which might not be the best under the circumstances. This is extremely dangerous especially if the organization involved is in the healthcare industry whose sensitivity cannot be gainsaid.

Alternative to Recruitment

There are a number of alternatives to recruitment. One such alternative is outsourcing, where outsourcing in this case involving subcontracting out certain functions of the business to an external provider (Banfield & Kay 2008). Outsourcing usually involves subcontracting that work that require skills and expertise that might be lacking in the organization at a given time. Overtime is the second alternative to recruitment which is mostly preferred in solving short-term fluctuations in work load (Banfield & Kay 2008). This alternative to recruitment best benefits the employer by cushioning him the costs that are normally associated with recruitment selection and training. However on the negative side, the part time employee might end up being less productive or even prove to be less than the optimal performance (Banfield & Kay 2008). Subcontracting is another alternative to recruitment which is normally used by organization to enable them meet an unexpected rise in demand for its services or products (Banfield & Kay 2008). This is a better alternative than expanding capacities which is another alternative that is usually explored in cases of abrupt increases in demand.

Another alternative to recruitment has to do with temporary employees (Banfield & Kay 2008). Temporary employees in this case refer to employees that have been contracted for a specific period of time to perform a particular job. The applicability stems from the way they have the potential of enabling an organization meet its short-term human resource requirements (Banfield & Kay 2008). For instance, a short term demand increase might be addressed by hiring of temporary workers from agencies who specialize in such works. Employee leasing is also an alternative to recruitment which essentially refers to the hiring of permanent employees from another organization who possess the kind of specialized skills that are required by the organization on lease basis in order to meet short-term needs (Banfield & Kay 2008).

Conclusion

Recruitment is an extremely important process that is performed by the Human Resource Management. Even of greater important is the selection process. All this boils down to selecting or choosing the "most qualified and best person for the vacancy (Richardson 2010)". It is upon the organization to select a person who will not only enable them as much as possible to achieve their objectives, but also beat their competitors. Upon selection, the employer ought to endeavor as much as possible to retain the best employee. This retention mostly involves training him or her to become exceptional in the organization. This process might appear long and tedious however the truth of the matter is that it is worth each and every effort that is expended in that direction.

A Reflective Task

The human resource is an important feature in any organization. This is because of the way it plays a significant role in the failure or success of the organization. Obviously, there is absolutely not a single business person who would like to see his or her business fall, in an effort to avoid such an occurrence a business person would endeavor to recruit the best and to ensure that those that have been recruited are happy in their work environment. The need to have happy and well motivated employees is precisely the reason that prompts the creation of a human resource department in almost all organizations. This need is informed by the realization that happy and well motivated employees make it easier for the organization to meet its objectives (Richardson 2010).

Other than making sure that employees are motivated adequately in way that enables the organization meet its objectives, a human resource manager also acts as a link between employees and management while his or her responsibility extending to hiring, recruitment, and selection of employees (Richardson 2010). This therefore requires that the human resource managers devise and implement decisions that will particularly impact the organization positively if made and executed well. From the above it is clear that the human resource manager therefore acts as a strong supporting pillar of the respective organization, it is also evident from the above that the decisions that he or she makes impacts greatly the overall performance of the organization. These and other are some of the challenges and choices that a human resources manager must face.

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